How does any work get done except by the labor of many hands? This particular project has been in the making for more years than I generally acknowledge, but it initially crystallized in a single word during graduate school. The word was, of course, “home.” I returned “home by the sea” to finish this book and was received into the welcoming arms of so many people—Margaret Simmons, Barbara Whitehead, Lois Benjamin, William R. Harvey, Joann Haysbert, John Alewynse, Joyce Jarrett, Mamie Locke, April Burris, Bradford Grant, Regina Blair, Jacqueline Regina Blackwell, and Amee F. Carmines—who stood tirelessly urging me forward. Amee, in particular, has been my friend and ally, reading and critiquing when no one else was around. My cousin Lois read an early draft and helped me find my own voice. I write of home because I have a family, not untroubled, not without conflict, not romanticized; I come from somewhere.
Over the years of work on this project, many students have inspired me and helped me to better articulate exactly what I mean. They have endured my obsession with the themes of “space” and “place” and “home.” But those at home have endured the worst of it. My parents, Robert and Lurlene Sweeney, are battle-worn soldiers who stood at the ready for me, always doing whatever was required. My children, Imani and Elijah, have learned patience, independence, and strength, having been born to a mother who simply must write. And my beloved husband, Steve, who can make art out of anything, makes it possible for me to do this work day to day. I thank him for the designs that grace the cover and head each chapter. He continues to be my inspiration.
My sister, Maria, her husband, Neil Osborne, and their daughter, Drexel, opened their home to me and endured my endless chatter without complaint on my trips to Cambridge during the last phase of this project. Their generosity and hospitality were invaluable to its timely completion. The editors at Columbia University Press, Jennifer Crewe and Leslie Kriesel, provided invaluable assistance in refining the finished product.
Carlo Rotella also motivated me. As I watched him speak at the MLA convention in San Francisco in 1998, he was a stranger, but during a time when I needed encouragement, his professionalism and intelligence made me hold to my convictions. His words about working until he finds just the right way to express what he means were not lost on me. One can be a hero without even trying sometimes.
Without the inspiration given by the Holy Spirit to lay everything down and to pick up only those things that Christ allows, I would never have been able to bear all the costs of seeing this project through. Most of all, I thank God for being my home in this world.
I would not change a moment of this walk. Although the work is secular, the journey has been sacred.